


Personal Empowerment

by lil_1337



Category: Grimm
Genre: Gen, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-30
Updated: 2013-06-30
Packaged: 2017-12-16 15:42:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,227
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/863718
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lil_1337/pseuds/lil_1337
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for smallfandomfest 13.</p><p>Prompt: Grimm – Hank - Knowing the truth is a powerful thing</p>
            </blockquote>





	Personal Empowerment

_“Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free."  
John 8:32 (New International Version)_

When Carly woged in fear that day in front of Hank it should have been proof that he really had taken the final step into the deep pool of insanity, but it wasn't. Once he let himself believe that what he was seeing was real and not a figment of his overactive imagination working overtime, the relief was staggering. If they hadn't been in the middle of a life and death situation he would have ended up on his knees sobbing. Instead he channeled the adrenaline rush into the punch that knocked Hayden Walker on his ass. Coyotl aside, Hank knew the playbook for dealing with men who thought it was fun to kidnap a girl and try to bend her to their will.

Later, over a few stiff drinks at the Bent Brick, Nick's explanation about what and who Wesen were and his role as a Grimm cleared up quite a few of Hank's initial questions. He knew there would be more, but at the time nothing else came to his overwhelmed mind. Everything, all the strange occurrences in the last year, had been exactly what he had thought they were. It wasn’t just tricks of the light or any of the other things he had used to try to write them off with, nor was he hallucinating; he really had seen the things that he’d thought he had.

This new knowledge about Nick and who he was would take some getting used to, but Hank put that aside along with the anger that came with the fact that Nick had kept it to himself for so long. There would be plenty of time later to have a Come To Jesus talk about keeping your partner in the loop on the big things that are happening in your life. Right now Nick had enough on his plate dealing with Juliette and her missing memories. Though, and Hank was annoyed with himself for giving Nick this out, he wasn't sure he would have been so open minded or willing to believe in the beginning; even now there were times when it seemed like so much fever-dream nonsense.

He'd fallen down the rabbit hole, taken the red pill and let his eyes be opened to shit he had never thought could be more than a fairy tale written to scare children into behaving. It had him questioning everything in a way he hadn't at any other time in his life. The whole thing was heady and terrifying at the same time. He found himself wondering about the myths and urban legends he had heard as a kid as well as all the stories that had been shared during long stakeouts. When it came to superstitions cops had even professional athletes beat.

In retrospect Hank had to wonder if contact with Wesen hadn't been the cause of some of those strange and unexplainable stories. After all, the predator and prey dynamic existed with greater strength within Wesen communities than it did within human ones, and that was saying something. Just thinking about it made him want to spend hours poring over Nick's books, trying to identify who or what the foundation was of each myth. It also made he want to tell everyone. Even as a boy Hank had never been good at keeping secrets and this was huge.

This had the potential to change everything about life as humanity knew it.

The problem was that it wasn't Hank's secret to tell, not to mention that as big as the knowledge was, the fallout would be even bigger. There was enough bigotry and hatred in the world as it was without giving people another reason to be suspicious of one another. Being different meant running the risk of being vilified and Hank had seen enough of that to last a few lifetimes.

It helped that he was no longer alone-- no longer afraid of his own thoughts or lost in the worry that his mind was lying to him, showing him things that didn't really exist to protect him from the path of insanity that he was making his way down. In fact, being part of this conspiracy of silence meant that he had more people he could trust, friends, than he had ever had before. It wasn't supposed to work like this. Hank had worked the streets long enough to know that.

Keeping secrets tore people apart. It didn't bring them together and create a community of support and understanding.

It was hard to know what to think. Everything was still such a jumble in his head. For every question he had answered there were five more. It made his head hurt and yet it gave his job an additional element that made it as new and exciting as it had been when he'd earned his detective shield. Hank could almost feel his brain stretching itself awake like it did when he was on a difficult case.

Not that Hank ever phoned it in-- he knew the job he did was too important to do that. In general, you can only see so many crime scenes before certain parts of the process become rote; now, though, knowing about Wesen had him looking for clues that this or that case or situation might be more than it seemed to be. Unfortunately that meant spending more time following Nick around like a hero-worshiping puppy than Hank was comfortable with.

Some days he felt as if he was trying to decipher hidden clues from a text in a language he didn't know; it was incredibly frustrating and yet so rewarding. On the other hand he was getting a hell of a lot better at interpreting Nick's body language and the tells the other cop thought he hid a lot better than he actually did. 'Wesen face' had a place in Hank's book of Nick-expressions next to 'this is not good' and 'oh shit, run'.

On the other hand this new knowledge was fraught with perils and pitfalls. One look at Juliette was enough to remind Hank of that. Even being aware didn't change the risks. Nothing really did, but that was true of police work too. In retrospect Hank had to wonder if he would have been as open to the idea and the reality of Wesen if he hadn't already had quite a few years of policing to show him the weird ways in which people lived and worked.

The fact that Portland had a strong artisan colony probably added to the weirdness. Or maybe it was the weirdness that drew the artists in the first place. It was hard to tell cause from effect when they were so entangled, and Hank was not really willing to make the effort to try to unwind them. He'd leave that to people like Captain Renard.

This was Hank's life now, using a Blutbad as a confidential informant, assisting a Fuchsbau in removing spells from people, and watching his partner and good friend rifle through books that were older than the country itself. Not your normal everyday life of a Portland detective. But then, Hank had that and despite the risks and overall weirdness that infused things, he was liking this so much better.


End file.
